Westport Lions Roar for September 2015

As the first report of the 2015 winter season (Uh-oh winter’s coming) I’d like to give you some idea of the scope of what the Westport Lions Club does in support of our community. The club is not large my any means, 31 members of good heart every one and they certainly punch above their weight, which in some cases is considerable. Before I get to sordid discussions of money consider some of the intangibles.
Let’s start with the Lions beach. There have been past rumblings that the beach was not worth all the time and angst to the club so this year Don, our president, set up a usage count. Since we don’t charge admission and there is no ticketing system the counting is necessarily approximate but during this past summer the beach had well over 8,485 users. On a sunny Saturday it would often be packed with over a hundred people from all over the area. We have had many positive comment about the new swim barrier, especially from families with young children and the one way system seems to be working well. Our thanks to our summer student Austen Adrain for keeping it trim and clean but mainly thanks to all the users that make it so worth while.
The beautiful beach facility is available to rent for receptions or events, the hall can accommodate a hundred people and the decks and the beach can be closed to the public for these events at a very reasonable rate of $300.00 per day without the bar. Full details are on our website.
The mobility bus, and now with our new addition, are very busy. These vehicles along with members vehicles when appropriate log between 30 to 40 hours every month and nearly 1000 Km taking those with mobility problems to and from as needed.
Our recycle program collected about 16 tons of metal this year, helping the environment a bit and providing a useful community service. And that is all just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, for there are many other services and events space prevents mention. I should however get to the money and the club gives back $12,000.00 each year in various donations, like supporting arena improvements, and charitable contributions. We are proud to serve and thank everyone for supporting us.
Regards…………..Lion Michael Harris